Solon's boys and girls bring home titles at Saturday's Elite Meet and Coach Chuck Kyle's resourceful Wildcats offer no excuses while making a promising fourth-place showing of 74 points.
Matt McVey is strong in the hurdles, Dan Way, Ray O'Brien, Mike Zupan, Pat Jeffries and Connor McCoy are more than eager in the relays and the hurdles, freshman Luke Wagner runs an impressive 2:02.97, Zupan and Mike Schafer hold their own in the high jump and long jump, respectively, Pat Politowicz racks up 4 points in the pole vault and senior Joe Arquillo and freshman Tim Trentel finish 1-3 in the 3200 meter run.
Brunswick, Ohio - Okay, so Saint Ignatius' track and field team was without some of its prime competitors for Saturday's Brunswick Elite.
And, if Easter Break vacations and other family obligations didn't come first, and rightfully so, maybe the Wildcats head back down Center Road early Saturday evening with a championship from the opening meet of their 2013 season.
That said, Saint Ignatius' gritty and gifted veteran distance runner, Joe Arquillo, wasn't about to entertain any opportunity to lean on the what ifs. Instead, Joe preferred to turn to the Wildcats' quality depth.
"We always have enough people to fill in and take up for, not the slack, but for their absences here," said Arquillo, just moments after he put together an impressive first-place performance in the 3200 meter run. "Everyone is good at something. It may not be the 100 percent we're looking for. But they are talented enough to put forth a good effort that represents our team well."
No one was more representative of Saint Ignatius' will and resiliency than Arquillo, who battled cramps en route to a five-plus second victory.
Freshman Tim Trentel complemented Arquillo's efforts by placing third in the 3200 run. Arqullio and Trentel are also mainstays for Dr. Mike Gallagher's highly successful cross country team.
"Coach Kyle told me to take the first 600 slow, to stay behind someone," Arquillo said. "Then that Strongsville kid caught me and I'm like, no, no, no, I want to lead this! I kept going and I heard Coach Kyle throughout the sidelines, 'Keep your arms straight, keep your arms straight.'
"Those little voices kept me going and I finally kicked it the last 800," Arquillo continued. 'It was like, two laps to go, let's go!"
Joe emphasized he wants to make it out of the district and regional this year, that he has a lot of work to make up.
"Last year at districts I had a stress fracture," said Arquillo. "That kind of put me down. So I want to fight that adversity and be like, 'Here I am.' I want to set my goals higher and be with the other 2-miler up at the regional and states."
Joe looks at the Wildcats as a team that is always determined to run its race, whether it's in the snow, rain or the sunshine that hovered over Brunswick on Saturday.
"As Coach Kyle always says, there is no weather that is bad enough for us not to run in," Arquillo said.
JEFFRIES CALLS THE SHOT: Just a second into Arquillo's race, Saint Ignatius' talented senior soccer and track athlete Pat Jeffries turned to this corner and yelled: "This is the story you're going to write about!"
COACH KYLE'S OUTLOOK: "This is Easter vacation and kids should go with their families. We just feel that's the right thing to do," Coach Kyle said of being without a number of mainstays, including top freshman sprinter James Norris, top senior sprinter Tim McVey and the essence of his 4x800 team. The Wildcats were also minus their talented shot put and discus man - senior Kevin Kavalec - who had some slight soreness in his knee.
Coach Kyle '69, now in his 40th season as the head track coach at his alma mater, was quick to point out that other teams had the same challenge this weekend, including the Solon Comets, who were without state champion sprinter Khoury Crenshaw, and defending state champion St. Edward, which was minus a few of its flyers on Saturday, including defending 200 meter state champ Anthony Young.
"You get a chance for a younger kid to get into a little bigger of a meet," Coach Kyle said. "It's a good experience. They see how the competition is. These are all good teams here (at the Brunswick Elite). Knowing we were missing a lot of guys, that was what we got excited about today - let's find a few young kids who have a future."
Coach Kyle and his staff knew they didn't have to look very far as ninth grader Tim Trentel finished third in 3200. It was Trentel's first time running the two mile and, as Coach Kyle emphasized, his time of 10:15 was very good for a freshman.
"And Luke Wagner (another freshman), the best 800 he ever ran before today was like a 2:10," Coach Kyle said. And today he runs 2:02.97. He got a couple of goals today, so that was nice."
Wagner was also a fixture on the cross country team this past fall, as Luke garnered Special Mention honors on The Plain Dealer's seven-county All-Star Cross Country Team.
UP NEXT: A trip to Hilliard, Ohio on Saturday for the Wildcat Premier.